X-Message-Number: 30299
Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 04:12:40 -0500
From: "Charles Platt" <>
Subject: infiltration

This is funny (to me anyway). One argument against "votes for members"
in Alcor is that it would allegedly allow infiltration and takeover of
the organization. Yet now, supposedly, an Alcor official has achieved
infiltration and takeover of the Cryonet rating system.

I guess that's one way of proving your point.

The ultimate argument, which I think Kevin Brown has made, is that if
people don't like the rating system in Cryonet, they can and should
leave and start their own list. We the users have no rights here.
Kevin can and should run the place in any way he likes. I note that he
has sustained it at his own expense for--15 years now? Naturally the
only comments he receives are complaints.

Those who like Cold Filter can go post in Cold Filter. Those who
prefer blog format can set up a Google blog. The tools to enable
online discussion have never been more varied. Let the most popular
format win.

--

One comment re Mark Plus:

"The rush to vitrification implicitly acknowledges nanotech's infeasibility."

Nanotech is no less feasible today than 20 years ago. The "rush" (some
would say, "crawl") toward vitrification is just a matter of
commonsense and ethics.

No one knows how difficult it will be to repair ice damage, or how
many extra years in a Dewar this will entail, waiting for the
techniques to be developed. No one knows if significant expense will
be involved. Therefore, it would be foolish to bet your life on these
possibilities. In addition, the development of reversible
cryopreservation would be a huge step toward gaining wider acceptance
of cryonics.

Personally I feel it is ethically unacceptable to say, in effect,
"I'll just get the minimal treatment and leave those people in the
future to solve the problems." The problems are our problems; how is
it right to expect other people to solve them for us? Especially since
financial provisions for revival have been sketchy at best. This
attitude of entitlement in cryonics has always bothered me.

--C

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